Chicago Public Schools’ controversial process of closing, consolidating and turning around schools will receive new scrutiny this week.
The City Council’s Education Committee will hold a hearing Monday on a resolution to impose a one-year moratorium on any such changes, and the Chicago Board of Education is scheduled to vote Wednesday on proposals to close two schools, consolidate two others, turn around five and phase out one. Turnarounds involve replacing new teachers, principals, and other staff while the student body remains intact.
“The process — from recommendation to the Board of Education vote — is probably no more than a month,” said Alderman Pat Dowell (3rd Ward), who co-sponsored the resolution in response to complaints of too little community involvement. “That’s unfair.”
Controversy has raged since the list of targeted schools was announced on Jan. 19. Parents at Marshall High School questioned the district’s turnaround process. At Mollison Elementary in Bronzeville, which was slated for consolidation, the school community pointed to alternate data that they argued showed signs of improvement.
At Guggenheim Elementary in Englewood, parents and community members expressed fear about whether the proposed closings would put the students’ safety at risk as they traveled to and from other schools.
School board officials gave ground, removing Mollison, Guggenheim, Paderewski in South Lawndale and Gillespie Elementary in Roseland from the list last week.
Ron Huberman, the public schools’ chief executive, cited the community involvement in his decision to remove some schools from the list, and pledged that the district would alert schools and the community earlier in the process.
Though Prescott Elementary in West Lincoln Park remains on the closing list because of low enrollment, its supporters still hope for a reprieve. Jenn Lister, founder of Prescott Parents, said the school had had increased applications, but needed more time.
“C.P.S. can’t give the school the go-ahead to make changes, then only give an 18-month window to make them 100 percent successful,” Ms. Lister said.